


Calling a spade a spade

by modorenai



Category: 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい | Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 04:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30033381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modorenai/pseuds/modorenai
Summary: “Going on a date with Adachi-san tonight?” Yuuko asks, looking up from her phone as Yuuichi strolls into the dining room.“It’s not a date, Aneki.”“You’re dressing up for a dinner with the person you like. You should just call a spade a spade!”
Relationships: Adachi Kiyoshi/Kurosawa Yuichi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21
Collections: CheriMaho White Day Gift Exchange 2021





	Calling a spade a spade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heure_doree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heure_doree/gifts).



“Going on a date with Adachi-san tonight?” Yuuko asks, looking up from her phone as Yuuichi strolls into the dining room, picking up the tie that he’d left on the table earlier and slinging it around his neck as he starts to tie it into a knot. She’s sprawled comfortably over his sofa, leaning against a cushion with her legs stretched out before her. With the number of times she’s come running over to sulk in Yuuichi’s apartment after having a fight with her boyfriend - tonight was yet another one of those occasions - it feels almost like she’s starting to become a permanent fixture in his apartment. Yuuichi has mentioned on more than one occasion that he’s regretted ever letting her stay over for that first time since, instead of taking it as the grudging one-off concession he’d intended it to be, she’d one-sidedly treated it as an open invite to come over whenever she wanted to. 

“It’s not a _date_ , Aneki,” Yuuichi’s voice floats back to her as he walks back in the direction he’d come from, presumably heading to the bathroom to check his reflection in his mirror to make sure that his tie isn’t crooked. 

“You’re _dressing up_ for a _dinner_ with the _person you like_. You should just call a spade a spade!” Yuuko retorts.

This time she has to strain to hear Yuuichi’s reply which is muffled due to the distance between them. She rolls her eyes at how he’s obviously just splitting hairs. 

“You’re so old-fashioned, Yuuichi. Do you think you’re living in the Heian era!?” 

Yuuichi ignores her as he returns to the dining room again, this time walking over to the rack near the sofa to grab his coat. 

“In any case, this really isn’t a date as you _incorrectly_ insist because I’m not having dinner with just Adachi tonight. It’s been one year since we organised that joint event between Toyokawa and Adachi Stationery, so we’re going to celebrate. Rokkaku, Fujisaki-san, Tsuge-san and Minato-kun are all coming too. ” 

“What, everyone else is going to be there too!? Why didn’t you invite me?” Yuuko whines.

“Because you weren’t involved in that event,” Yuuichi replies, exasperated. “And anyway, aren’t you the one who said you wanted to camp out at my apartment tonight while you wait for your boyfriend to call you to apologise and beg you to go back?” 

Almost on cue, her mobile phone rings. Yuuko brightens up at the familiar ringtone, and swipes right to pick up the call as she waves her younger brother away. This time it’s Yuuichi’s turn to roll his eyes as finishes putting on his coat and leaves his apartment, the sound of his sister’s voice trailing through the air behind him.

===============

As Yuuichi makes his way over to the restaurant, he can’t stop marvelling over how it’s already been more than a year since he’s met Adachi. So much has happened in that short period of time that he feels like he’s almost known the other man for years. Well, technically he _had_ already been communicating with Adachi over emails and phone calls for several years, since Kurosawa was a sales representative from one of the biggest stationery companies in Japan, Toyokawa, and had been put in charge of handling all orders placed by Adachi Stationery, the stationery shop run by Adachi’s family. However, it was only a year and two months ago when he and Adachi had finally met face to face. 

===============

_One year and two months ago_

“I’m terribly sorry to make such a bold request considering the error was entirely our fault,” Yuuichi said, struggling to keep the desperation out of his voice as he spoke into the telephone, “But is there any way you could consider accepting the extra quantities this time without requesting for a cancellation?”

Although the other party couldn’t see him over the phone, Yuuichi bowed in apology out of reflex, nearly hitting his head against his table. Luckily, he managed to stop himself before he made contact with the hard surface and quickly righted himself, continuing to press the telephone receiver anxiously against his ear as he waited for a reply. 

Yuuichi was _screwed_. He had made an error when noting down the quantities that Adachi Stationery had requested for in their latest order, which had resulted in Toyokawa delivering way more pens they had wanted to purchase. When Adachi had called to point out the mistake, Yuuichi had made a report to his boss, who had immediately ripped into him with a fury he hadn’t experienced in years since he had first started working in Toyokawa as a newly graduated employee. The reason why his boss was so furious was because the mistake had come to light only after their department had already updated the higher ups on their latest quarterly sales figures, which had been impressive and had earned his boss the promise of a promotion next year. If the sales figures were to be adjusted to account for the discrepancies in the Adachi Stationery orders, his boss’s promotion would definitely be in jeopardy. And so his boss had demanded that Yuuichi do all he could to convince Adachi Stationery to accept the extra orders, promising dire consequences if he failed to do so. Yuuichi knew it would be unfair of them to badger Adachi Stationery into accepting the extra orders when this mess had stemmed from his own mistake, but with his job at stake, he had no choice but to give it a try. 

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Yuuichi felt his stomach sink. 

“Well,” Adachi said uncomfortably, “I’m sure you understand that this is quite a bit over the quantities we’d calculated we would need based on our sales forecast, and to be honest this has placed us in quite a difficult situation too…”

Without realising it, Yuuichi let out a despairing sigh. The sound was out of his mouth before he’d realised what he’d done. He gasped in horror, then immediately slapped a hand over his offending mouth. Not only was he already feeling terrible that he had created this mess in the first place, now he had just behaved in a totally unprofessional manner in front of Adachi. It had been constantly drilled in his head since the time when he had first joined the company that appearances were of utmost importance and that he should be able to maintain an unflappable and business-like persona at all times when dealing with customers, as any sign of impropriety or even weakness could negatively affect the customer’s perception of the company’s capability, and could run the risk of the customer no longer wanting to do business with them.

So much for all these years spent trying to build up a trusted relationship with one of their most loyal customers. Ruined all thanks to a simple yet incredibly stupid mistake that someone of his seniority and years of experience should never have made. Yuuichi wished a hole would just open up in the ground and swallow him up whole.

Just as Yuuichi was trying to think of a way to explain politely that he hadn’t meant to be rude without sounding like he was trying to make excuses, the other man suddenly spoke up.

“You sound pretty troubled,” Adachi said quietly. “Will it cause you major problems if we don’t accept the extra quantities? You personally I mean, not your company.” In light of the situation, Kurosawa had expected Adachi’s tone to sound sarcastic or even annoyed, but instead he was surprised to hear what sounded like empathy in the other man’s voice. He was also surprised at how Adachi seemed to be enquiring about his own personal wellbeing, rather than pointing out his unprofessionalism or pushing back against being essentially asked to clean up after the mess created by him, at the expense of Adachi’s own interests as the innocent victim of Yuuichi’s stupid mistake. Was Adachi concerned for him?

Yuuichi bit his lip. Up till now, his relationship with Adachi had been a purely professional one, and despite having exchanged correspondence with each other for years, he couldn’t exactly say that they knew each other well. However, even through their business dealings with each other, Adachi had always seemed like an earnest and considerate person, and Yuuichi didn’t think he would be the type of person to ask a question like that simply out of curiosity. Should he trust in his gut instinct that was telling him that Adachi might be asking this for a reason and risk confiding in him, or should he continue attempting to keep up his business persona?

After a few more seconds of agonising, Yuuichi decided that he was already too far gone and that things couldn’t get any worse than they already were, so he was just going to have to take a gamble and go all in. He would trust in Adachi. 

“Well, to be frank… yes, it would indeed cause quite a lot of trouble for me if the extra quantities were to be cancelled,” Yuuichi admitted, nervously twirling the phone cord around his finger. The salesman persona he had so carefully crafted for years felt like it was breaking apart at having to make that confession. 

“But please don’t let this pressurise you into making a decision,” he added hastily. “I know I’m making a pretty unreasonable request, and to be honest I actually didn’t have any hopes that you would agree, but I just thought that I had to try.” He cringed, knowing how desperate he sounded. 

There was a short silence, and just as Yuuichi was beginning to feel like he would collapse from his nerves, Adachi spoke up again.

“Actually, I think I may have an idea as to how to solve this problem. But it’ll require quite a lot of time, effort and commitment on Toyokawa’s part, and even then it may not be guaranteed to work…” 

As Kurosawa listened to Adachi outline his plan briefly, hope began to rise in his heart. 

“Yes, that sounds like it could work, actually!” He said. “I’ll just need to run the idea by my boss first, and then maybe we could arrange some time early next week to have a meeting to discuss this plan further?” 

After placing his phone back on the hook, Kurosawa leaned back heavily in his chair and let out a huge sigh of relief. He knew was probably being overly dramatic, but he felt as if he had just been touched by an angel, if angels managed stationery shops and went by the name Adachi. As he got up to hurry over to his boss’s desk to tell him about Adachi’s proposal, it felt as if he could almost hear the other man’s calm and comforting voice whispering to him that maybe, just maybe, things would work out after all.

**Author's Note:**

> To heure_doree: I'm sorry but I was really struggling with the original fic I wrote for your prompt since I thought my fic was incredibly boring, and I only ended up getting some really last minute inspiration which resulted in me deciding to completely overhaul my fic. So I've only posted the first part of this fic for now (I'm sorry there's not enough of Kurosawa being extra flirty yet. >_<) , but I am working on the second half and plan to post it within the next few days! m(_._)m


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